Book Review: A Gentleman's Gentleman by TJ Alexander

Queer Historical Romances are just so good. 

A Gentleman's Gentleman follows the eccentric Lord Christopher Eden who lives alone in his manor with his cook and elderly butler as he gets a valet for the first time. He's been given an ultimatum when it comes to his estate - marry before his next birthday or lose everything. Overall, it's an easy read - fast paced with a good amount of drama and funny shenanigans. There was even a carriage chase scene that had me on the edge of my seat. 

My biggest issue with this book is that I wish that it had gotten deeper. Christopher did a big crazy thing in his past and once he reveals it, they don't linger on it all.  James Harding honestly doesn't have much of a personality - he's very good at his job and has a secret like Christopher does (I was able to guess it fairly early on as this isn't the first time I have read a novel where the main character is trans, and the love interest is also revealed to be trans). It all just felt surface level deep even though it had the potential for more. 

If you are looking for something similar, I recommend Self Made Boys - a Great Gatsby Retelling by Anna-Marie McLemore & Most Ardently - a Pride & Prejudice Retelling by Gabe Cole Novoa. Self Made Boys was a 5 star read for me and Most Ardently was a fun read as well, it made me wish that our queer ancestors had gotten to live that way.

Synopsis:

The notoriously eccentric Lord Christopher Eden is a “man of unusual make” and even more unusual habits: he prefers to live as far from the prying eyes and ears of the ton as possible and would rather have the comfortable company of his childhood cook and his aged butler, Plinkton, than the swarm of servants and hangers-on befitting a man of his station.

But Christopher's pleasant, if occasionally lonely life is upended when he receives word from his lawyers that, according to his late father’s will, he must find a wife by the end of the Season if he intends to keep his family's fortune and the Eden's End estate. Christopher cannot imagine a worse fate: as he isn't attracted to women, his chances of making a wife happy are slim. Furthermore, if his quest to marry has any hope of succeeding, he must move to London posthaste and acquire some more suitable staff.

Enter James Harding, Christopher's new, distractingly handsome—if rigidly traditional—valet. After a rocky start, the two strike up a fragile friendship amid the throes of the London Season . . . a friendship that threatens to shatter under the looming shadow of Christopher’s impending nuptials—and the secrets both men are keeping.

With its heady combination of dry wit, slow-burn romance, and a nuanced, complex portrait of trans identity and relationships that’s as relevant now as it was during the Regency era, A Gentleman's Gentleman stands to transform the historical romance genre as we know it.